The Fifth Spirit
by Electronic-Star
Summary: For Agduna Week 2020, Day 3: Magic Part 1 of the 'Connected by Love' Series


A.N. For Agduna Week 2020, Day 3: Magic

**Fifth Spirit**

Iduna was translating the old Northuldran runes when she noticed something wasn't right. The ship wasn't quite as steady as before, it felt like there's a storm outside...She quickly rolled all the papers and put them in the waterproof container just in case.

Then she ran out of the little room and up the stairs to get on deck. They're in the middle of a big storm..."Iduna!" Agnarr came running towards her and blocked her path. "Go back inside. It's too dangerous out here."

"No, let me see..." She wasn't giving him a choice as she ducked under his outstretched arm to get out into the storm. She was drenched in mere seconds. Even with the ship wavering like that, she ran to the railing to look at the big waves. Just a second later, Agnarr was beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders protectively.

There's no way they could get through these waves...But then she saw something on the water. Something very familiar. "Nokk!" Iduna looked at her husband with a smile on her face. "Agnarr, it's Nokk!"

Of course he had no idea what she's talking about and looked at her confused. She pointed to the waved, where a water horse ran over them, causing the waves to get higher. "Is that a water horse?"

"He's our water spirit. I thought...I thought they're asleep." Iduna was happy seeing Nokk very much awake, but unfortunately he was very angry, too...It made her wonder if she could calm him somehow. She did have magic of her own. Wind magic, but still magic. She was always good friends with the spirits, maybe it'll work. Without a word, she grabbed Agnarr's knife and cut off the lowest part of her dress. "What are you doing?" Asked her husband, as her dress was now above her knees, showing off her legs.

Then she cut off her long sleeves. They'd just get in her way. "I'm saving you." She answered. Of course Agnarr wouldn't understand it right now. Before he could say anything, she stood on her toes and pulled him slightly down to kiss him. She had no idea if it's gonna work so…It could very well be their last kiss. Then she pushed him away with her wind. Maybe a bit too much, for he fell a few meters away and landed on his back. "I'm sorry." She said before climbing on the railing.

"Iduna!" She heard him call, but she didn't look back. The men around them noticed what's going on and tried to 'help', but then she jumped into the sea. Iduna wrapped some wind around herself to cushion the impact. And then she was underwater. Her dive didn't hurt at all, it didn't feel like she jumped down from that high. As she began to swim to the surface, Nokk appeared suddenly making her stop. Then it vanished again and appeared right in front if her, eying her suspiciously. And then he's gone again.

Iduna kept swimming and eventually break through the surface, taking a deep breath. "Iduna!" It was hard to hear over the storm, but Agnarr's voice still reached her. Before she could take a moment to look around for the spirit, she felt it pushing from beneath her, throwing her into the air.

Iduna had only seconds to let the wind wrap around herself to cushion the fall again. Sadly she couldn't do anything underwater, and Nokk took advantage of the fact and pushed her down deeper. She couldn't do anything to free herself and Nokk only let her go again when they were deep enough.

The second Nokk vanished, she tried to swim up again, not wanting to give up just yet. Some water magic would be very helpful right now…It didn't matter how long she swam, though, it felt like she's not moving from the spot. The surface was so far away.

Soon enough her limbs lost their strength, but she kept fighting. For her family! Her lungs wanted nothing more than some fresh air, her throat began to burn and she started to fee light headed, too. Iduna knew if she couldn't take a breath right now, she'll faint and drown. Her body reacted on instinct, trying to scream and pressing the rest air out of her lungs. She quickly covered her mouth but it's not like she could force the air back into her lungs, it wouldn't help her anyway.

After a few more tries to reach the surface, her body gave up. She was too weak and desperately needed oxygen. Then she felt herself sinking again and fainted.

When Iduna woke up again, the first thing she did was taking a few deep breaths. "Iduna!" Agnarr's voice was so close...She needed a minute to realize what's going on. Agnarr was holding her tightly and they were both in the sea. He must've jumped after her when Nokk tried to drown her. "Ag-" She tried to say his name, but had to cough up some salt water. Her throat was burning, but at least she could breathe again. "Go back to the ship..." She coughed, but as expected, he didn't.

"You know I won't leave you." He said, holding her close. It was really sweet of him, really, but Nokk will surely attack again and Agnarr couldn't defend himself. At least she had some magic, but he didn't. "You—" Her burning throat made her cough again. "You need to go." Agnarr was surely getting ready to protest, but before he could say a word Nokk appeared again and surfaced right between them, throwing them both into the air.

Now, instead of protecting herself with a wind cocoon, she did it for Agnarr, while she crashed into the water head first. Feeling slightly dizzy, Iduna swam up before Nokk could push her down again. Just as she hit the surface again and took another deep breath, something grabbed her ankle and pulled her along. Nokk surfaced, still pulling at her ankle, but at least she wouldn't drown right now. The storm and her hitting the water surface over and over again were very loud, but she could've sworn that she heard Agnarr calling her.

Iduna sent strong wind again the water horse, but it didn't do anything to stop him. If anything he's just getting angrier. She had to calm him somehow...Maybe if she could get on his back...Pushing herself up didn't work, but maybe she could make some magical reins? Well, she never tried something like this before, but maybe it could work. Not even she knew the full potential of her magic.

Reaching a hand out, she tried to make something like a very long and very thin tornado and wrapped it around his muzzle. It seemed like it worked, when he let go of her leg and struggled. Then in a swift motion she was pulled up, gripping the wind reins tightly —which she didn't know was even possible. The spirit bucked and tried to throw her off his back. In that moment Iduna was really glad that she had experience in taming horses. But would it also work on a spirit?

"Nokk, it's me! Don't you remember? We always played together!" She yelled over the storm, right before his water mane hit her. It looked like she couldn't get through to him with words...But there was still another way. Her spirit friends always loved to listen to her singing, she even used a special melody to call upon her friends —which thankfully worked when the forest fell. Still holding herself steady on his back, she began to sing that special melody. It was slightly distorted with all the movement, but Nokk's ears twitched as if he recognized it.

Then he calmed down and looked at her as if he just recognized her for the first time. Which might actually be true. "It's me, Nokk. Iduna. Remember?" The spirit stared at her for a moment, before nodding his head. Iduna smiled, sniffling slightly. She was so happy, she might cry. But now wasn't the time. "I'm glad. I missed you and the others." She let the wind reins disappear and looked around for Agnarr. The sea has calmed down as well, so finding him was an easy task.

She guided Nokk over to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, as she reached a hand out to him. This brought back some fond memories of the time where she tried to teach him how to climb trees. It didn't really work out. "Fine..." He mumbled, taking her hand. Iduna pulled him up, also using her magic for this and let him sit behind her.

Agnarr hugged her, pulling her against him and leaning his head on her shoulder. "Don't ever do this again...Do you have an idea how worried I was?" Iduna nuzzled against him and caressed him gently at the back of his head. "Sorry." They stayed like that for a moment, before Iduna looked back to Nokk. "Can you bring us to Ahtohallan?" The spirit nodded and began to walk.

First she guided him to the ship and they ordered the crew to stay put. And then she let Nokk run with full speed towards Ahtohallan. Of course Agnarr was still with her. She wanted him to see this, too. Then they came closer to...something that definitely wasn't a river, but a glacier. "It's frozen..." Iduna mumbled. There was nothing else around, it had to be Ahtohallan.

"Is that even possible?" Asked Agnarr, who's still holding her tightly as if he's afraid to lose her.

"I didn't think it is. But I guess an ice age froze it completely." When they reached the shore, they got off the water horse. "Thank you." She said to the spirit, bowing to it. Nokk bowed, too, showing his respect for her, before going back into the water.

The royal couple turned to the glacier, looking for an entrance. "So this is it...I never thought I'd actually see this." Her whole life Iduna thought this place was just a legend. But now she had real proof that it existed. Agnarr pulled her out of her thoughts when he took her hand. He waited patiently for her to do the next step and she really couldn't love him any more than she already did. The brunette took a deep breath and squeezed her husbands hand. "Let's go."

"Lead the way." Once they found an entrance nearby, they went inside. Iduna didn't know what to expect to see, but for now there's nothing. They had to go in deeper. At this thought she remembered the old lullaby her mother always sang to her. Not too deep..."Where to...?" Asked Agnarr and Iduna really wished she had an answer.

She needed a while to look around and make a plan. Legends said that the fifth spirit could go in and out of Ahtohallan and when Nokk's awake then the other spirits should be, too. And there's only one way to get the spirit's attention. Iduna sang the certain melody to call out to the spirits. And then there was a light, guiding them the way to another smaller tunnel that lead deeper inside. "There."

"What kind of song is that?" Asked Agnarr, visibly impressed by her abilities to call upon her spirit friends.

"Well, the spirits like it. We've always been friends." Still holding his hand, Iduna pulled him along hoping to find anything at the end of the tunnel. What they didn't expect is that the tunnel turned into a slide. And so they had no other choice but to slide down. And then there was a slope. The light showed them an entrance on the other side, they just had to get over there. "Hold on." Iduna put her husband's arm around her shoulder and wrapped hers around his waist. Then they reached the end. "Jump!"

A normal human being would never be able to get through there, but she wasn't normal. She let the wind carry them over to the other side. Actually, that was kinda fun. But it looked like Agnarr had to get through his shock. "That was close." She half joked. Actually she had everything under control.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your magic?" Asked Agnarr and kissed her cheek.

"You did. But I wouldn't mind if you say it again." She joked, but got a very serious answer from him.

"I love you, min kjærlighet." Agnarr cupped her face and pulled her up to kiss her passionately. She kissed him back, clutching his shirt and pulling him closer. It really made her forget their task for a minute. When they had to part, they were both breathless. "I love you, too, dávvir."

They looked at each other for a while longer, before they realized that they had to keep going. Taking his hand, Iduna lead the way deeper inside, wondering when they had to stop. If only they could finally find anything. The light kept guiding them and then vanished behind ice pillars that blocked their path. "Now what?" Asked the king and she gave him the answer by trying to lift them with wind. It luckily worked. There were a few more pillars on their way, that she, too, lifted out of the way.

And then they entered another room. It was empty and a dead end. The couple looked around but couldn't find anything. "Hey." Agnarr nudged her gently. "Sing that song of yours."

"You think it's gonna work?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Ahtohallan was just a place and not a living entity. Right?

"It won't hurt to try." Well, he was right about that.

"Together?" She asked, her eyes glinting mischievously, because Agnarr couldn't sing at all. Not even if his life depended on it.

"I'll pass..." He mumbled, blushing at her suggestion. But she knew exactly what to do to persuade him. She looked at him with big pleading eyes and she could already see him crumbling. "Please. My life. Mu Ahki." And with that she won. He loved her speaking the Northuldra language.

"Okay..." Iduna grinned triumphantly and took his hand. The king looked very uncomfortable that he had to sing with her, but he still did for her. He copied what he heard moments ago and sang with her.

Agnarr was off-key and of course he couldn't sing high enough, but Iduna wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. As they waited for something to happen Agnarr burried his face in his hands, embarrassed. "I love it." She said, pulling his hands down.

"You don't need to lie for my sake..."

"But I mean it." Iduna smiled at him brightly and it made him smile, too.

Then the room went dark. The light that guided them was gone as well and it looked like a big crystal emerged out of nowhere. Then it exploded and the room was now filled with little, floating crystals. After a moment tzey began to move. Some formed into the shape of a little salamander. "That's Bruni..." She realized and at Agnarr's questioning look, she answered. "Our fire spirit." The crystals came together and showed them the symbol of fire.

Then they formed a leaf. "Vinny. Wind." The leaf also became a crystal with the wind symbol. Next came a crystal horse. "Nokk." And joined the other by forming the water symbol. At last the crystals formed a rock giant, before becoming the symbol of earth.

"All four elements." Said Agnarr, while she moved the floating crystals around with her magic, just acting on instinct. She pushed the crystals to the ground and formed the pattern on her shawl that she was so familiar with.

Then they glowed brightly and in the middle appeared a fifth shape. "And then there's the fifth..." She mumbled more to herself.

"A fifth element?"

"No...a spirit. It's a bridge between the magic of the forest and the people. But it's just a legend..."

Agnarr hugged her from behind, leaning his head on her. "If I had to suggest anyone, it might've been you. You'd make a good spirit. And you did calm Nokk."

"Yeah, but...I don't think a person can be a spirit..." Iduna always thought animals or mythical creatures could be spirits, but it's only based on her knowledge of the four existing ones. Then Agnarr let go of her and she felt a light push. Before she knew it, she was standing in the center of the symbols.

The symbol she's standing on began to glow and them grew to a beacon of light. Then the whole room was filled with light and the walls showed...her memories? Right...the lullaby said so. It showed memories of her time with her family. How she always tugged her daughters into bed. All her times with Agnarr and how they met. All the way to the point where she saved him and her oldest memories of her Northuldra family. Even her parents appeared and to be honest, she was close to forget how they even looked like. Iduna felt tears gathering in her eyes at the sight of them.

Then the symbols glowed again. This time the little crystals left their position and lined up all around her ripped dress. In the next second the dress was magically repaired. Well actually she got a brand new one. It had an open slit on her left leg, starting at the half of her upper leg. The symbols of the elements were all around the dress, forming the unity symbol, just as on her shawl.

It still had the same purple color on her upper body, but the skirt part turned from bright green to a darker one at the end. Weird. But at least she didn't walk around in a ripped dress anymore. Not that she minded, but…it probably didn't look very good. She looked to Agnarr, who was staring at her mesmerized and with so much pride and love that her heart swelled with an equal amount of love for him.

What she did next just happened out of instinct. She moved the wind around them. Iduna had no idea if its her doing or Ahtohallans, but a thick fog appeared and closed around them. At first she felt a slight panic, surely an emotion she repressed since childhood, but it left as soon as it came. This wasn't the same fog that locked her out of her home. Probably.

Inside the fog formed people. Northuldra and Arendellians alike. The memories of everyone. Of Anna and Elsa and of course of her and Agnarr. For a moment the royal couple watched the fog versions of Anna and Elsa playing together. Agnarr wrapped an arm around her shoulder to keep her close. Surely to comfort them both. There was no explanation needed. Iduna sung the lullaby to him and told him everything she knew of Ahtohallan and he knew as well as she did what they saw here right now.

Then they kept going through the memories. They passed their girls childhood and went deeper till they found their memories. They saw her coronation, their wedding, their courtship, their friendship and went all the way back till the moment she saved him from the battle.

As they watched her little fog self saving Agnarr and then hiding him in a wagon, the real one gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you. More than anything in the world." He whispered into her ear. Iduna turned her head to him, their foreheads touching.

"You know I speak more than two languages...yet I can't find a word that can describe my love for you." Said Iduna, feeling like she should try harder, but it looked like it was enough for Agnarr, for he cupped her face and kissed her as passionately as never before.

If she really was the fifth spirit, then they didn't even got their answers to everything that happened till now, but it bonded them even more. But there was still one answer that they needed.

Taking her husbands hand, they walked in deeper into the memories. Until they heard two men talk. "King Runeard, I don't understand." They quickly made their way to the voice's source. "Father..." Mumbled Agnarr when they were literally eye to eye with him and his steward. "There's no reason to distrust the Northuldra."

"They believe in magic." Came the late king's harsh reply. "Magic makes them feel too powerful. Enough to defy the will of a king." So this was Ruenard's true colors.

She felt Agnarr's hand squeezing hers, as if to ground himself. "That's not the magic's fault." He practically growled at his fog father. "It's just your fear."

The two fog men went past him and Runeard revealed his plan to his steward. He told him that the dam he build for the Northuldra wasn't a peace offering, but something to weaken their resources and make them weak. That they'll have a celebration and at this day they'll see how many of them they needed to kill.

At this point not even Iduna could hold back her hatred for this man. They reached the end of the fog, but the men kept going. This must be the line they shouldn't pass. But they needed to know…

Seeing how desperate Agnarr looked, she pushed the fog aside and went deeper. In her head she could hear her mother singing 'Dive down deep into her sound. But not too far, or you'll be drowned'. It was already getting colder, the deeper they went. With Ahtohallan being a glacier, maybe they will probably freeze instead of drown. Then the way was cut off.

Around them fog Northuldra and Arendellians went deeper inside and they could hear Runeard's voice calling her people friends and that he's welcoming them just as they welcomed the Arendellians. And by now they knew it was a lie.

Agnarr was about to jump off the ledge, but Iduna held him back, gripping his shirt tightly. "No! Don't you remember? Not too far or you'll be drowned!"

But he looked at her desperate but determined. "I need to know for sure."

Iduna looked down, searching for another plan. But there was only one for her. She leaned her head against his chest and felt him wrapping his arms around her. There's no way she's gonna let him die here. And she knew he won't let her either. Then she finally looked up, giving him an equally determined look of her own. "I'm sorry."

Agnarr looked at her confused, but before he could say anything she gave him a gentle kiss on his lips. Then he seemed to understand her plan. "No."

The queen wiped a tear away that threatened to fall. "I love you so much. Tell Anna and Elsa I love them, too."

"Don't you dare-" He couldn't finish his sentence, as Iduna pushed him with her magic back to the room they came from. And then she jumped down, deeper than she's allowed to go. "Iduna!" She heard Agnarr call her, but it was too late.

Once she landed, she immediately sensed the biting cold. Trying to stay warm, she kept walking, searching for the right memory. It thankfully didn't take that long as she saw the chief of the Northuldra talk with Runeard, telling him that the dam's damaging the forest. So he knew…Runeard suggested they talk about it over some tea at the fjord.

The cold began to hurt and as she looked at her hands, she saw them starting to freeze over. She had to hurry...Iduna quickly went to the next memory. It showed the chief kneeling down with a cup of tea in his hands. And then Runeard approached him, drawing his sword to attack the clearly unarmed and defenseless man. So it was him who started the fight. "No!" Iduna wanted to take a step forward but noticed that she couldn't move anymore. Her legs began to freeze.

She needed to get out of here. The brunette tried to push herself up with her magic, but she lost top much strength too fast and fell right back down. Her back hit the ground and Iduna rolled around, coughing. There's no way she could get out...

"Agnarr..." Using her magic, she sent this certain fog memory up to Agnarr with the last strength she had. And knowing that he won't be able to leave this place without magic, she called out to her spirit friends for help. Maybe one of them will save him. Hopefully. They just had to save him! And that's the only thing she could do before completely turning into an ice statue.


End file.
